Amazon launches its own product lines

Cookware by Seattle chef Tom Douglas is latest example

By MIKE ULLMANN, SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, July 5, 2009

Amazon's next-generation Kindle reader is hogging most of the company's press this year, but even the new Kindle can't flip a fish. For that, you need famous Seattle chef Tom Douglas - or, in his absence, the just-released "Tom Douglas by Pinzon Stainless-Steel Slotted Fish Turner."

You can only buy it from Amazon. That's what "by Pinzon" means.

Pinzon is one of four private labels Seattle-based Amazon has been quietly developing over the last half-decade. The new Tom Douglas line, announced last week, is the most visible example of the online retail giant's selling its own brands right next to other companies' competing products on the Amazon Web site.

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"Amazon's mission as a whole is to offer customers everything they want online," said Anya Waring, a company spokesperson. "Our reason for offering private-label brands is to offer our customers great value and quality as well as competitive prices."

Costco has its "Kirkland" house label, and other bricks-and-mortar companies such as Walmart and Whole Foods have company brands on the shelves next to the competition.

But Amazon has pioneered the practice among sizable Internet-only retailers. Its four house brands - Pinzon, Strathwood, Denali and Pike Street - are manufactured in 10 countries and offer thousands of products, from power screwdrivers to lawn chairs to bed linens.

This week's venture, though, is the first time Amazon has teamed with a celebrity to put a face on a hand-picked product line. Every one of the dozens of kitchen items that carry the Tom Douglas by Pinzon mark (his trademark is stamped on many of the tools) was chosen and used by the owner of restaurants The Palace, Dahlia Lounge, Etta's and Lola.

"Most of them have been in use in my own kitchen for at least a year," said Douglas, who in 2008 was named Bon Appetit magazine's Restaurateur of the Year.

"When we started this, Tom envisioned his collection as having the best quality and the best prices. In some cases we found that with major national brands, and we co-branded with companies that our customers know and trust," said Kerry Morris, Amazon's senior private label manager.

The full title of that fish turner, for instance, includes the name Dexter-Russell, a manufacturer of tools and cutlery since 1818. "We tried a lot of fish flippers from different suppliers," said Morris. "The bottom line is, this is the one Tom wanted to put his name on."

On Amazon's site, each item in the new line comes with tips from Tom. "These fabulous glasses compliment the wine," Douglas writes of white wine glasses, "and are much more durable than most 'fancy' glasses." Describing a Japanese knife, he warns against using it to scrape food off the cutting board. "Scraping dulls your knife quickly. Gather your prep with a board scraper."

The items are offered at reasonable prices - the six wine glasses are $40; the knife, a seven-inch Santoku, costs $25.

Douglas can go on at length about his collection and how it has been chosen to make people more comfortable with cooking. On a Japanese knife line, he likes the feel of the handles, and promises that Amazon will soon make it easy for customers to pick the best one to fit them personally. "It's not operational yet," Douglas says, "but there will be even be a way to pull up a screen and put your hand up next to it and say, 'I need the eight-inch knife.'"

From Douglas' standpoint, the partnership with Amazon gives him a way to find and market tools he likes and uses. "Amazon, by its size, gives me a way of dealing with manufacturers that I couldn't do on my own," he said.

What Amazon gets includes Douglas fans who might well be willing to purchase cooking gear that most people have never heard of. "Fish tweezers, for example," Douglas said. "I think it gives them the flexibility to sell products that they wouldn't otherwise."

Amazon's future almost certainly includes growing its private brands, although the company does not publicly disclose such details.

"We fill those pipelines with a selection of products because our customers have been looking for those types of products," said Morris, the senior manager. "When we see an opportunity, we will pursue it."

Outside analysts have said the private-label business will continue to expand.

As to whether other companies are unhappy with competing with Amazon products on Amazon's own site, Morris said she hasn't heard any complaints. "It's been a very open, welcoming opportunity that I've only heard positive feedback on," she said.

Or it may be that Amazon is so big that complaints would be useless. Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, a software firm that helps retailers sell online, told the Wall Street Journal he does not expect much backlash from other companies that sell through Amazon.

"You can't pull out of the Walmart of the online world," he said.

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AMAZON PRIVATE LABELS:

Pinzon - Launched 2005. The broadest and biggest of Amazon's house brands. Named for the European captain who first encountered the Amazon River. Bed and bath products, table-top kitchen tools and accessories. Indoor furnishings.